Campaign eyes a tidier Britain

12 April 2012

The UK's biggest ever litter clear-up has got under way, more than 50 years after the first anti-litter campaigners urged people to take their rubbish home.

Keep Britain Tidy is organising thousands of litter picks across the country - and is calling for a return to the 1950s values when dropping litter was seen as unacceptable.

The organisation is turning back the clock to 1954, when Women's Institute chairwoman Lady Elizabeth Brunner kick-started the campaign against rubbish on the streets and in the countryside.w

The Big Tidy Up is being launched by two of her great-granddaughters, who will recreate the 1954 photocall with which Lady Brunner started Keep Britain Tidy.

Madeline Brunner, aged 10, and nine-year-old Marnie Breadin will start the campaign by dressing in 1950s clothes and holding placards bearing the campaign's first slogan "Please Take Litter Home".

It is hoped half a million bags of litter will be collected in the month-long blitz by thousands of schools, businesses and community groups - and Women's Institute members.

Marnie Breadin said: "We have heard all about our great grandmother and how she started Keep Britain Tidy. We think she was cool to start it all off because she didn't like litter and we don't like litter either."

Phil Barton, chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said: "The Big Tidy Up will be the biggest organised litter pick this country has ever seen. Thousands of schools, businesses and community groups have already signed up and want to make a difference. We are turning the clock back to the era of our founding mother Lady Brunner because we want to see a return to 1950s attitudes. At that time litter was seen as being unacceptable."

Environment Minister Jonathan Shaw said litter louts were breaking the law and could be fined up to £80, while local authorities were forced to spend more than half a billion pounds a year clearing up the mess.

"Fifty years on from the first Keep Britain Tidy campaign, litter is still a big issue. People need to realise that their careless behaviour is ruining our streets and public spaces, when it only takes a moment to drop their litter in a bin instead," he said.

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